Ore-washing plant.



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Y way f 6 57%? No. 810,196. P-ATENTED JAN. 16, 1906. F. EGGERS.

ORE WASHING PLANT. APPLICATION FILED APR. 6. 1905.

FREDERICK EGGERS,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

ORE-WASHING PLANT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

Application filed April 6, 1905. Serial No. 254 089.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK EGGERS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cincinnati, I-Iamilton county, State of Ohio, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Ore-WVashing Plants; and I dodeclare the following to be a clear, full, and exact descriptionthereof, attention being called to the accompanying drawings, with thereference characters marked there on, which form also a part of myspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in means and devices forseparating matter and particles of different specific gravity where suchmatter and particles occur in a mixed mass or conglomerate and wheresuch sepa ration is obtained by the use of water in which such mass orconglomerate is disintegrated and agitated, permitting thus theparticles and ingredients to separate according to their individualweight. Devices of this kind and operating by use of water or washingare found in means for separating ores or metallic, particularlyauriferous, sands, and my invention relates to that class andparticularly to such devices thereof in which the separation or washingtakes place in circular pans which containwater or are supported in orunder water and to which the matter to be separated is supplied whilesaid pans are rotated, so that the separation results from centrifugalaction.

My invention is more particularly intended for use in connection withore or sand washers where materials are handled in more extensivequantities and where the devices and machinery used are arranged to beportable, so as to readily follow the workthat is, the material. In suchconnection the various devices and machinery constitute what may becalled a plant or outfit, which consists of digging devices, usually asteamshovel or digger, whereby the sand is scooped up. It consists,further, of washing-pans into which this material is delivered by thesteam-shovel. Suitable devices, like beltoperated buckets or elevators,are provided to remove the separated material and particularly thewaste. Motors and auxiliary machinery, like engines, pumps, &c., arealso added to suit special requirements. In the most expeditiousarrangement of such aplant these devices are mounted on railwaycarswhich may be flat cars, and are arranged to travel on tracks, so that asthe steamshovel removes the material, usually called I dirt, it may bemoved up to keep in reach of such dirt and follow the formation of itsdeposits. The separating and washing devices and other auxiliarymachinery follow, of course, the steam-shovel, whether mounted on thesame or on independent carriers, so that all parts of the plant remainat all times within operative reach of each other. The useful producingeffect of such a plant depends on the quantity of material (dirt)handled by it with certain given facilities, as limited by sizes andcapacities of carriers, of width of track, available motive power,quantity of water obtainable, &c., and the leading object of myinvention is to so arrange and construct such an ore-washing plant as toimpart to it as large a capacity in moving and handling dirt as ispossible with certain given facilities and within fixed limits. Thefacilities I have here in view would be the kind of motive power andmachinery on hand, meaning thereby the digging mechanism, the oreseparating and washing devices, and the means for removing the wastematerial. The limits of these facilities would be the sizes andcapacities of all these devices as de pendent on and determined by thesize of the carriers on which they are mounted, the facilities formoving these carriers, kind of dirt handled, facilities for obtainingfuel, &c., and particularly water as to sufficient quantity.

In order to make myself better understood, I proceed now to describe myinvention in connection with a given case and given devices, and forsuch purpose I refer to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1shows in side elevation, partly in section, ore or sand washing devicesmounted upon a carrier in shape of a flat car. Fig. 2 is a top view ofthe ore-washing device shown in Fig. 1.

washing-plant, which carrier is a flat-car resting on rails 6, and towhich the ore-bearing dirt or sand is supplied by any suitable means,which have no direct bearing on my invention. These means may, however,be the steam-shovel mentioned, also mounted either on the same or on anadditional flatcar and traveling on the same or on an addi tional trackbeside the track first mentioned. In either case the two advancetogether that is, the washing plant follows the digger as the sameadvances into the dirt. The washing devices in this case are circularpans 7, mounted for rotation on upright shafts 8,

5 indicates the movable carrier of the which shafts are supported forrotation in suitable frames and bearings, as at 9, at their lower endsand at 11 at or near their upper ends. The rotation is in any manneraccord ing to approved mechanical rules and may be as best shown in thedrawings, which is by complementary sets of bevel-wheels 12, one setbeing mounted on the upper end of shaft 8- and the other on horizontalshafts 13. These latter shafts are operatively connected for operationby suitable motor, which may be a steam-engine 14, which drives one ofthe shafts 13, and which latter by means of a pulley 15 drives the otherhorizontal shaft. These pans 7 are supported in the manner stated withina common tank 16, sustained on the flat-car by means of a suitablesupporting-frame 17. This tank is filled with water to a depth tosubmerge more or less the pans mentioned, these latter being allsupported at the same height. The dirt being thrown upon these pans isdisintegrated by the rotation of the pans through the water and bycentrifugal action moved toward the edge of these pans at which edge anannular pocket 18 is provided, in which specific ally heavier matter isarrested, while lighter stuff is washed over and out, after which itsinks to the bottom of tank 16. From here it is removed bysuitablemeans, preferably by belt-operated buckets 19, arranged as a so-calledelevator, operated in any suitable manner, or as shown, in which caseits operating-shaft 21 is driven bya set of bevelwheels 22. The bucketsmay dump upon a chute 23, which discharges at the side of the track. Toprevent the operation of one pan from interfering with that of another,I pro vide upright circular Walls 24, which surround each pan andconfine the action thereof and agitation of the water by it to the spacesurrounded by such walls. It will be noted that the size of this washingoutfit is limited by the width of the car.

As before stated, the leading object of my invention is to attain thelargest productive working effect in any case under certain fixedlimitations, and in this case I attain this object by the arrangement ofthe pans, as best shown in Fig. 2, and which shows a number of themarranged in a group within the common tank 16 and as distinguishedagainst the usual arrangement of one of such pans of larger diameter insuch a tank or of several of them alined in a row. Assuming the size ofthe tank in two such compared instances to be alike, the washingcapacity of the pans, as represented by the added lineal length ofpockets 18, is very much larger in the case of a plurality of pansarranged in a group of, say, four as it would be in the case of one pan,notwithstanding this latter would be as large as a tank of similar sizewould admit. More dirt can be handled, since more can leave over thecircular edges of the pans without requiring more space or a larger tankand a larger carrier for it, thus obtaining a much greater workingcapacity. The tank not being any larger does not require any more water,which is of importance in localities or under circumstances wheresufficient water is not readily obtained. Interfering counter-currentsare prevented by circular walls 24, before described. In the arrangementshown it is preferable to have the waste-elevator in the central spaceresulting between the pans, as shown, the same reaching down into aconical pocket 25, which forms the deepest part of tank 16.

Having described my invention, I claim as new 1. In an ore-washingplant, the combination of a common water-tank, a group of circularoreseparators arranged therein, means to rotate them and stationarypartitions in the upper part of the tank which surround each separatorto confine the effect of the operation of the same to the space sosurrounded.

2. In an ore-washing plant, the combina tion of a water-tank terminatingbelow into a central conical pocket, circular ore-separators groupedtherein'around this pocket and each equidistant therefrom, means tooperate them, a bucket elevator arranged in the central space surroundedby these separators and dipping into the pocket below, of the tank, toremove therefrom the waste material and a railway-car upon which allthese parts are mounted.

In testimony whereof I hereunto a'fl'ix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

FREDERICK EGGERS.

Witnesses O. SPENGEL, O. MEYER.

